New Orleans Hornets trade another good step in their youth movement

The makeover of the New Orleans Hornets continued Wednesday, and with it, more reasons were provided to like the direction in which the franchise is headed. New Orleans is in a youth movement, and if it’s going to do that, it might as well be the full-blown, rebuild-almost-from-scratch kind.

Mark J. Terrill / The Associated PressTrading Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday was yet another good move for the New Orleans Hornets.

So No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis (19 years old) will join Eric Gordon (23) at the Team USA tryouts for the Olympic basketball team, and then in a Hornets uniform, the former as the team's slender power forward and the latter as its high-scoring shooting guard (and highly paid, if the restricted free agent draws the kind of contract offer he wants).

And perhaps Davis and Gordon will be linked in New Orleans with North Carolina center Tyler Zeller (22), a 7-footer who became a much more attractive, logical candidate for the No. 10 overall pick Wednesday, when the Hornets traded center Emeka Okafor (30 in September) and forward Trevor Ariza (27 on June 30) to Washington in exchange for forward Rashard Lewis and the Wizards’ second-round pick, No. 46 overall.

Ariza fits a young roster, you say? Not if you factor in that he fell so far down the totem pole last season, when the Hornets struggled and needed the veteran leadership he could’ve provided, that he was a healthy scratch for the final 10 games of the season.

Lewis, 33 in August and expensive as heck ($23.79 million this season), doesn’t fit it, either? That absolutely is correct. That’s why he’ll be bought out, and the Hornets will get to apply another $6 million to $7 million to this year’s salary cap.

Add holdovers like center/forward Jason Smith (26) and forwards Al-Farouq Aminu (21) and Xavier Henry (21) to Davis, Gordon and Zeller, and the Hornets could be as young as any team in the league, depending on what they’re able to add in free agency.

And that’s an attractive alternative to what the organization was forced to look like last season, when NBA commissioner/Hornets team owner David Stern rejected the proposed three-team trade — constructed by General Manager Dell Demps — that would’ve made the Hornets competitive and engineered one that didn’t prove to be all that helpful in the won-loss column.

Gordon and the draft pick that became the No. 10 overall pick, you may recall, were the centerpieces of the new deal, which sent Chris Paul to the Clippers. The Clippers posted their highest regular-season winning percentage in franchise history, reached the playoffs and won a series.

The Hornets, of course, hope that kind of production can be contributed to by the No. 10 pick and Gordon, who provided little last season in terms of actual, tangible performance — unless you’re the type to put a heavy value on the nine games he played, out of 66, last year.

Regardless of what happens, the gist is that the organization has made a commitment to youth, and Oklahoma City has shown the past two seasons that, with a little luck, that can be a spectacular way to build a feared contender. The Thunder, headed by Kevin Durant (23), Russell Westbrook (23), James Harden (22) and Serge Ibaka (22) — all draft picks by the organization — were in the Western Conference finals last year and are in the NBA Finals this year.

True, growing pains usually accompany this kind of move. Young talent is fabulous but it has to mature, to some degree, before it blossoms into something special.

And even if it does, it’d be beyond optimistic to believe it’ll match OKC’s growth.

Durant is a three-time scoring champ and MVP runner-up, Westbrook is a two-time member of the All-NBA team, Harden is the current Sixth Man of the Year and Ibaka is one of the most prolific shot-blockers in the league.

It’s rare for a team to hit on that many first-round picks, even when three of them (Durant, Westbrook and Harden) were lottery picks. But it’s not the worst blueprint to follow or the worst dream to chase, either.

OKC has proven that wise selections and strategic veteran additions quickly can lift a team, and the Hornets, who scrubbed bottom last season en route to a 21-45 record, obviously can use a boost.

Wednesday was another step in that direction.

More and more, the makeover is taking shape. More and more, it looks appealing.